


Clue

by lachatblanche



Series: Dollhouse AU [11]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Consent Issues, M/M, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-19 07:06:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachatblanche/pseuds/lachatblanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik receives a little help in his investigation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clue

Erik wasn’t quite sure how he felt about letting Raven in on his investigation.

Yes, it was nice to have someone to talk to about it; someone who didn’t think that he was crazy and moved to call the men in white coats the second he was out of earshot. Yes, it was nice to have someone to look at the case from a fresh perspective, to have a second pair of eyes go over anything that he may have missed. 

It was, however, also a huge pain in his ass. 

Letting Raven in on his investigation meant that he now couldn’t get rid of her; she was over at his flat at all times of the day, so much so that she practically seemed to live there. Erik wouldn’t mind so much if she just kept out of his way. But no, she seemed determined to insinuate herself into every single part of his life in whichever way possible, something that constantly drove Erik to distraction. For a man used to being on his own and doing things his own way, having someone like Raven about was a huge upheaval. It wasn’t _all_ bad, of course, but he couldn’t say that he was especially thrilled to have someone moan at him to do things like take out the bins or buy more milk. Nor was he very happy at Raven’s interference with his choice in diet; apparently eating takeaway pizza five days in a row was completely unacceptable to _some_ people.

In spite of this, he was very much surprised to find that he didn’t really mind Raven being there. In fact, the only really bad thing that he could say – and he would never say this out loud, of course – was that sometimes, some very _occasional_ times, he rather missed it when it was just him investigating the Dollhouse. When it was just him against the rest of the world, waiting to charge in on a white horse to save the Dolls.

To save Charles.

He tried not to think like this very often. He knew that the thoughts were ridiculous and overly-sentimental and if there was one thing that Erik prided himself on, it was his rationality. Sentiment could wait. The job, as in all things, came first.

The difference was that he now had a partner.

Raven had accepted the details of the case with relative equanimity. She had heard of the Dollhouse, of course, as had most people, though she admitted that her knowledge mainly stemmed from her days as a young girl in the schoolyard. She was intrigued to find out that the Dollhouse was real and seemed very impressed with the work that Erik had put in.

‘You’re very dedicated,’ she said approvingly, before cocking her head to the side, and smirking. ‘Well, I _say_ dedicated. Of course I mean _obsessed_.’

Erik gave her a look.

‘Hey – it could be worse,’ Raven assured him. ‘You could be obsessed with _murdering_ people, or something. On the whole, this is _definitely_ healthier.’

Erik wasn’t the only one with an obsession with the Dollhouse, however. Raven soon became almost as engrossed in the case as he was, and the two of them were often to be found in Erik’s apartment, poring over files and photographs. Erik didn’t know what was motivating Raven but he sure as hell was thankful for it; he hadn’t realised how much he had missed having a partner on his cases until that moment. Working alone was not, perhaps, as great an idea as he’d used to think.

The two of them came to spend a great deal of time together. Some nights Raven didn’t even seem to go home, despite living just across the hallway. They were together so often that Erik began to wonder if he had become a bad influence on his young neighbour. Certainly, she seemed to have picked up a lot of bad habits from him. Drinking too much coffee, for one; spending sleepless nights poring over old case files for another. Erik even swore that Raven had taken to staring at the picture of Charles at odd moments, just like he did, as if she too were taking heart from the photograph and using it to remind her of the reason they were doing what they were. 

Their investigation still wasn’t bearing much fruit, however. Trails went cold, leads didn’t pan out … it was more than a little frustrating. Erik had actually lost his temper one evening and, full of frustrated impotence, had thrown the papers down at his feet, grabbed his coat from the peg by the door, and had stormed out of his own apartment, leaving Raven staring wide-eyed at him in his wake.

It was shortly after this tantrum that the second envelope had shown up.

Erik had not forgotten the mysterious benefactor who had put him so very firmly on the trail of the Dollhouse. It was this generous soul, after all, that had given him Charles. Erik had waited, but for the longest time there seemed to be no more messages forthcoming. He had all but given up hope when the second envelope arrived, lending him a new lease of life.

He had been out for his morning jog and was just returning home, tired and sweaty, when he’d seen the brown corner of the envelope sticking out from the bottom of his door. Erik froze upon seeing it and it had taken him a minute to even approach his door. Once there, he stood silently for a moment, contemplating the envelope and wondering what it could mean. He had then nodded to himself, pulled out his keys, opened his door, and went inside. He returned a minute later and this time he had a pair of plastic gloves on his hands, which he used to pick the envelope up off the floor with. 

He then carefully opened the envelope and gently pulled out its contents. Inside was, like before, a single piece of paper. This time, however, it wasn’t a photograph. This time it was just a plain piece of paper with a list of six names written on it.

Erik studied the list for a few minutes before carefully putting the paper back in the envelope and then setting both down on a clear, clean portion of his desk. Having done that, he quickly stripped the gloves off his hands and walked out through the door of his flat and across the hallway, coming to a halt in front of the door opposite to his. Raising his fist, he knocked on the door in three sharp raps, the noise echoing loudly down the silent corridor.

It was a moment before the door opened and when it did, it revealed a very rumpled, very grumpy-looking Raven. 

‘What the fuck do you want?’ she grunted, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

‘My door,’ Erik said sharply. ‘Did you see anyone approach it?’

Raven blinked at him.

‘Huh?’ she asked cleverly.

Erik gritted his teeth.

‘Did you see anyone in the hallway?’ he demanded, unable to conceal his impatience. ‘Did you _hear_ anything? Anything at all?’

Raven blinked at him, still looking incredibly sleepy. 

‘No,’ she answered, sounding vaguely surprised. ‘Dude, it’s _eight o’clock_.’

‘So?’ Erik glared at her, his jaw clenched.

‘So _I was asleep_!’ Raven snapped, her drowsiness giving way to irritation. ‘Believe it or not, I _don’t_ feel the need to patrol the corridors at all hours just in case someone suddenly decides that they actually give a damn about you!’

Erik’s jaw tightened at that and he said nothing.

Raven seemed to come back to herself after a moment and she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘That was uncalled for. I didn’t mean … What’s the big deal, anyway? Why do you look so … weird?’

‘I got a letter,’ Erik said shortly.

‘Woo-fucking-hoo. Who’s it from?’

‘No idea.’

Raven blinked.

‘Okay,’ she said slowly. ‘What’s it about?’

Erik looked her straight in the eye.

‘The case,’ he said. ‘It’s about the case.’

Raven frowned.

‘The case?’ she repeated. ‘But I thought that nobody – Holy shit!’ Her eyes were round. ‘Someone else knows what we’re doing?’

‘It seems that way, doesn’t it?’ Erik said grimly. ‘I think it’s the same person as before. The one that sent me the picture of Charles.’

‘Wow,’ Raven’s eyes were wide. ‘That’s nice of them.’

Erik snorted. 

‘I’ll reserve judgement on that until I find out what sort of game they’re playing,’ he said darkly. ‘Last time I looked, no one did good things for no reason.’

‘That’s kinda bleak,’ Raven said, screwing up her nose. ‘I mean, how do you know that our informant isn’t just a decent human being who wants to save the Dolls?’

Erik gave her a humourless smile.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever met a “decent human being” in all my life,’ he murmured.

‘Wow,’ Raven snorted, rolling her eyes. ‘Sure sounds like you have a lot of fun up there in Happys-ville. No really,’ she said as Erik scowled at her, ‘All the good-will and optimism shining out of your ass is _blinding_ me.’

‘Ha-fucking-ha,’ Erik muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

‘Attaboy,’ Raven patted his arm. ‘Now tell me: what’s in this mysterious brown envelope of yours?’

Erik paused and regarded her with a frown.

‘How did you know the envelope was brown?’ he asked suspiciously.

Raven shrugged. ‘Aren’t all envelopes brown?’ she asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

Erik let out a sigh of disappointment. 

‘Never mind,’ he muttered. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘It’s a list,’ he said at last. ‘It’s a list of names. All written in block capitals. That’s it.’

Raven positively beamed.

‘Awesome!’ she said.

Erik stared at her.

‘What?’ Raven protested. ‘It is! It’s a motherfucking _clue_! Like in all those old-fashioned detective stories and stuff! It’s fucking _exciting_! I bet you wish that we had Miss Marple around here right now, huh?’

‘No, actually,’ Erik drawled, allowing a small smirk to play on his lips. ‘I was more of a Sherlock Holmes man, myself.’

Raven rolled her eyes. 

‘ _Naturally,_ ’ she said, sighing. ‘I should have known that you would have it in for sweet little old ladies.’

Erik opened his mouth to protest against this slur on his feelings for sweet little old ladies but then thought better about it and shut his mouth.

‘ _Anyway,_ ’ he said pointedly, ‘It won’t take long to find out more about this list of names, even without your beloved Miss Marple on the case. I’ll run the names through the system; see what comes up.’

‘Good,’ Raven nodded enthusiastically, her eyes shining with unrestrained eagerness. ‘It’ll be good to have more to go on. I’m tired of running into dead ends.’

 

**…**

 

The dead ends, however, just kept on coming.

‘This is ridiculous!’ Erik snarled as the fourth name came up with the same huge red ‘DECEASED’ sign across the computer screen. ‘These men are all _dead_! What was the point of sending me this list if all the names on them are of _dead_ men?’

‘You haven’t tried them all yet,’ Raven said diplomatically. ‘The others may still be alive, you never know.’

Erik had merely snarled at her and then gone back to searching for the names in the police database.

He hit the jackpot on the fifth name.

‘Him!’ he said, leaning forward suddenly, raising his hand so that his index finger brushed the picture on the computer screen. ‘This Keith Brown. I know him.’

Raven was at his side in seconds, her previous blasé attitude replaced with something more serious and focussed.

‘How?’ she demanded. ‘How do you know him?’

‘You remember how I was telling you about Magda? About the night I found her?’ Erik asked, waiting for Raven’s nod before continuing. ‘Well, that’s the man she was with that night. Only …’ he paused.

‘What is it?’ Raven urged.

‘That wasn’t the name he had when I saw him,’ Erik said slowly, frowning.

‘Then one of the names must be fake,’ Raven said confidently. ‘What was the name he gave you?’

‘Carl Goldman,’ Erik said immediately, the name still fresh in his mind. ‘I checked every single piece of identification in his wallet _and_ I ran his name on the system. Granted, he only had a few parking violations, but it checked out.’ He hummed contemplatively. ‘So that should mean that the name on the list is a fake … But then why was there also a file on Keith Brown?’

‘Never mind that now,’ Raven said impatiently. ‘You’d better run Carl again. We’ll need an address.’

Erik dutifully ran the name through the police database. The details popped up almost immediately.

‘Hmm,’ Raven said. ‘Looks like he lives on the rich side of town.’ She turned to Erik. ‘You’d better make a note of the address. Unless you have a photographic memory or something.’

Erik snorted and hit the _Print_ button instead.

‘Awesome,’ Raven beamed when he returned with the printout. ‘So we’ll go and see him tomorrow, right?’ 

Erik stared at her.

‘Firstly,’ he said, ‘why wait until tomorrow? And secondly: _we_?’

Raven rolled her eyes.

‘Of _course_ “we”,’ she said exasperatedly. ‘I’m just as involved in this as you are. And also, _yes_ tomorrow. We still have things to do here.’

Erik raised an eyebrow.

‘Like what?’ he demanded.

‘Like looking up that last name,’ Raven said encouragingly. ‘Not to mention searching for any fingerprints on the letter.’ She let out a loud huff at the look that Erik gave her. ‘What, did you think that I didn’t notice that you didn’t let me touch the letter? Or that you were wearing gloves while handling it? Give me _some_ credit, Erik, I’m not a _total_ moron.’

Erik couldn’t help but smile at that.

‘Well done, Miss Marple,’ he murmured.

‘Suck on that, Sherlock,’ Raven smirked.

They then went on to search for the last name on the list. Unfortunately, nothing came up.

‘Must be another alias,’ Erik said, shrugging at Raven’s irritated expression. ‘There’s not much that we can do with that, I’m afraid. If the man doesn’t have a criminal record then there won’t be a list of his known aliases.’ He sighed. ‘It’s only by chance that I recognised Carl.’ He ran his eyes over the printout on his desk. ‘It’s definitely him – I wouldn’t forget his face. But why would he have changed his name?’

‘Perhaps you scared him,’ Raven said lightly. ‘You do that, you know.’

But Erik shook his head.

‘No, he changed his name _before_ I met him,’ he said, frowning. ‘But he was with Magda when I met him, which means – what? If I’m right, and this is a list of Dollhouse clients, then it means that he was using the Dollhouse even after he changed his name … that he didn’t fully cut his ties.’

Raven was looking impatient.

‘I don’t see what the big deal is here,’ she said impatiently. ‘The guy was probably some sort of criminal and that’s why he changed his name. There’s really no need to overcomplicate things, you know.’

Erik grunted and rubbed a hand over his forehead.

‘You’re right,’ he said reluctantly. ‘And fine – we will go and see Keith or Carl or whatever his name is tomorrow. We’ve still got a few more things to go over anyway.’

‘You mean _you_ have things to go over,’ Raven corrected him, getting up from her chair and tossing her blonde mane over her shoulder. ‘ _I_ , on the other hand, have a _date_.’

Erik turned to stare at her before rolling his eyes.

‘No wonder you wanted me to wait until tomorrow,’ he grumbled. ‘You’d better hope I don’t change my mind.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ Raven said sharply, her eyes narrowed.

Erik shook his head.

‘Fine,’ he said flatly. ‘Go, get out of here. Some of us have important work to do.’

Raven let out a huff and, turning on her heel, smoothly sashayed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Erik sighed and rubbed at his head.

He missed working alone.

 

*****

 

The rest of the day was not very successful. The investigation into the last name on the list did not get Erik very far and he soon gave up his search in a fit of exasperation that even an imaginary conversation with the picture of Charles Xavier couldn’t fully dissipate.

That wasn’t the only disappointment of the day. As expected, there were no fingerprints to run on the envelope; whoever his informant was, they weren’t foolish enough to commit such an amateurish mistake. Erik smiled wryly: perhaps Miss Marple’s assistance wouldn’t be so very amiss after all.

Erik soon gave up any hope of making any further progress that night. Besides, if Raven was going to have the night off then why couldn’t he? He had Carl Goldman’s name, after all, and he’d already done the necessary preliminary check on the other names. That was enough for now; he could do a detailed investigation on them tomorrow. There was no rush – they wouldn’t be going anywhere: they were dead.

And so, with that in mind, Erik pushed all his notes aside, turned on the television, grabbed a six-pack out of the fridge, and settled himself down on the sofa, in the mood to watch a long, action-heavy film full of high-speed car chases and mindless violence.

It was only later, when Erik was half-way through his six-pack, that something made him stop and frown. He set down his beer and, hitting the mute button on his remote, went back over to the computer to look at the files of the dead men, wondering why the thought hadn’t struck him sooner and cursing Raven for her insistence that they hurry through the names as quickly as possible so she could go off on her date. And so it was that as he was looking through the files of the names marked ‘Deceased’ that he spotted something that made his blood run cold.

The men had all died at different times over the last three years. There was no real tie between the men, no real relationship or kinship that would link the four of them together. Nothing except for the fact that they had all appeared on the same list that had mysteriously materialized under Erik’s door. 

Nothing, that is, except for one more tiny little thing.

All four of the men had been viciously stabbed to death.


End file.
